Music 170: Theory and Musicianship I

Fall 2013

Instructor: Dr. Naomi Waltham-Smith

Email: [email protected] Phone: 215 898 4985 Office: 332
Office hours: By appointment

Teaching assistant: Kai-Young Chan

Email: [email protected]
Office hours: By appointment

Class meetings
Lectures: TR 10:30am12:00 noon Lab: MW 11:00am12:00 noon

Requirements
Music 70 or successful completion of diagnostic test to be sat during the first lecture on Thursday 29 August

Course description
Intended for students who already have a grasp of music notation and the rudiments of theory (such as clefs,
keys, intervals, scales and basic chords), this course provides an introduction to principles of tonal voice-leading,
harmonic function, counterpoint and form in repertoires of the common-practice era with a specific focus on
the stylistic, formal and harmonic practice of late eighteenth-century genres. Students will develop their written
and practical musicianship skills through written harmony and counterpoint exercises, short stylistic composition
assignments, written analyses, sight-singing, aural dictation and keyboard harmony.

Materials and resources

You should purchase a copy of Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter with Alan Cadwallader, Harmony & Voice
Leading, 4th edition (Boston, MA.: Schirmer, 2011), available from the Penn Bookstore.
You may also find William Caplins Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) to be a useful companion text during the last
part of the course. Online the New Mozart Edition and Naxos Music Library are invaluable resources. Additional
materials will be posted regularly to the course to help both to consolidate material covered in classes and also
to indicate further avenues for study. Materials posted to the site are designed to complement and enhance,
rather than substitute for, engaging thoroughly with the topic in class, so you should still expect to take detailed
notes in class.
Please ensure that you bring to every class pencils, eraser, ruler, pen, paper for taking notes, the textbook and
copies of all scores set for study.

Policies
Attendance
Your attendance is required at every class meeting, and you should arrive on time and equipped to participate
fully in every exercise and to engage fully in discussion. You should complete all assigned reading, listening, score
study and/or exercises before class. Course notices and materials will be posted on the course website
throughout the semester, and it is your responsibility to check regularly for updates. You are permitted to miss
class for legitimate medical reasons (sickness on the day of class), religious observance and unavoidable
professional commitments only. You should endeavor to notify the instructor as soon as possible. Excessive or
unexplained absences, as well as repeated tardiness, will result in a reduction in your course participation grade.
There are no excused absences. If you miss class, you are responsible for making up any work and for knowing
the material covered.
Course absences should be reported through the Course Absence Report system, the purpose of which is to
facilitate communication between instructors and students when a student misses class. The system allows
students to inform instructors about absences of five days or fewer. If the absence is more than five days, you
should contact your home school advising office for assistance and to discuss the academic implications of a
longer absence. You can submit a Course Absence Report by logging on to Penn InTouch and choosing the
Course Absence Report option from the menu on the left.
Electronic devices in class
In a small class it is detrimental to other students if you do not make every effort to engage with the subject
matter and with others in the group. The use of electronic devices is particularly distracting; accordingly, use of
phones, tablets or laptops is not permitted during class. Please speak to me before the start of the class should
there be extenuating circumstances in which it is imperative that you remain contactable during a particular class.
Email
You are welcome to contact me via email and you may expect a response within 24 hours (unless you receive
an out-of-office modifying this expectation). Please bear in mind, however, that email is less suitable for involved
discussion and many aspects of music theory are better explained in person where they may be demonstrated
at the keyboard or on paper. Where your email amounts to more than an administrative issue or a brief enquiry,
you may be asked to make an appointment. Please do not expect to contact me with last-minute enquiries
immediately before exams or submissions: the details will be made known to you in advance and there will be a
number of opportunities to ask questions as we work through each portion of material.
Academic misconduct
Academic misconduct is described in detail in the Universitys Code of Academic Integrity
(http://www.upenn.edu/provost/PennBook/academic_integrity_code_of). It is your responsibility to make sure
that all work you submit in this class is your own. Your project submissions should represent your own efforts
and should not be substantially like that of any other class member; it is likewise unacceptable to simply adopt
the solution of the original composer in completion exercises. If you have questions about what constitutes
cheating, fabrication, plagiarism or academic dishonesty, please see me.

Course grade
The course grade will be determined by your performance in written theory (60%) and in musicianship (30%),
specifically in two written exams, two musicianship tests and a final written project, as well as a portfolio of
written work submitted throughout the semester (each worth 15%). Preparation, participation in class discussion
and commitment will determine the remainder of your grade (10%). You will complete assignments on a regular
basis to go towards your written portfolio, which will be submitted periodically for assessment; portfolio
submissions are to be made at the beginning of class on the due date, as detailed in the course calendar below.
The final project submission is to be emailed to me no later than 9am on the due date. Resits or resubmissions
will only be allowed when there are proven extenuating circumstances; requests to be considered for
resit/resubmission must be made no later than the start of exam or time at which the submission is due.

Component
Written theory
Exam 1
Exam 2
Final project
Portfolio
Musicianship
Mid-term tests
Final tests

Date of assessment/Date due

Preparation, participation, and commitment

Throughout the semester

Tuesday 8 October
Tuesday 26 November
Friday 13 December
Throughout the semester
Monday 7 and Wednesday 9 October
Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 December

Weighting
60%
15%
15%
15%
15%
30%
15%
15%
10%

Lecture calendar
Subject to change
Tuesday 3 September

Lecture 1: Tonal listening

How tonality trains the ear
Sounds and their functions
Temporalities of cadence, prolongation and sequence
Kochs punctuation model

Thursday 5 September

Lecture 2: The VI pivot

The basic IVI cadence
Authentic and half cadences
Periodic phrase construction
Tonal articulation of form
& AS Unit 7: 19 (115122)

Tuesday 10 September

Lecture 3: Dissonance 1
Non-harmony tones: insertions
The role of dissonance in Rameaus harmonic theory
Dominant substitutions and embellishments 1: V7
& AS Unit 7: 1017 (122128) and Unit 21: 117 (371387)

Thursday 12 September

Lecture 4: Dissonance 2
Non-harmony tones: displacements
Figured bass
Dominant substitutions and embellishments 2: 43 suspension and cadential 6/4
& AS Unit 11: 114 (181190); Unit 22: 113, 2527 (392399, 410414)

Tuesday 17 September

Lecture 5: Pre-dominant 1
The cycle of fifths: an asymmetric system
Pre-dominant basic options: ii6 and IV
Initial tonic substitutions and embellishments 1: I6 and vi
& AS Unit 10: 17 (161168); Unit 12: 1 (194195)
First part of written portfolio due

Thursday 19 September

Lecture 6: Pre-dominant 2
Pre-dominant substitutions and embellishments 1: ii6/5, II6 and IV6
& AS Unit 13: 18 (208219); Unit 29: 15 (536540);
Unit 12: 5 (202203)]

Tuesday 24 September

Lecture 7: Applied dominants 1

Pre-dominant substitutions and embellishments 2: applied dominants
Initial tonic substitutions and embellishments 2: applied dominants
Techniques of tonicization
Tonal articulation of form
& AS Unit 9: 17 (147159); Unit 15: 16, 913 (245250, 253263);
Unit 23: 14 (421424); Unit 26: 17, 9, 11 (467480)

Thursday 26 September

Lecture 8: Chromatic borrowing

Pre-dominant substitutions and embellishments 3: borrowing from minor,VI6
Writing expansive cadential progressions
From local harmonic embellishment to large-scale tonicization
& AS Unit 30: 116 (559575)
Second part of written portfolio due

Tuesday 1 October

Lecture 9: Withholding closure

Final tonic substitutions: deceptive cadences
Half cadences
& AS Unit 14: 56 (236238); Unit 26: 8 (476477); Unit 12: 4 (200202)

Thursday 3 October

Lecture 10: Revision session

Tuesday 8 October

Lecture 11: Written exam 1

Thursday 10 October

Fall break

Tuesday 15 October

Lecture 12: Prolongation 1

Hearing-as, hearing-through
The temporality of prolongation
Prolongational progressions 1: passing and neighboring
& AS Unit 8: 714 (136142); Unit 9: 10 (154156);
Unit 14: 1, 34 (230231, 233235); Unit 20: 15 (346353)

Thursday 17 October

Lecture 13: Prolongation 2

Prolongational progressions 2: substitutions and pedal points
The sentence 1: the basic model
Form and prolongational spans
& AS Unit 14: 5 (236237); Unit 20: 68 (353356); Unit 22: 28 (414416)

Tuesday 22 October

Lecture 14: Stylistic composition workshop 1

Writing a short phrase

Thursday 24 October

Lecture 15: Sequences 1

The temporality of Fortspinnung
Descending fifths progressions
Substitutions and embellishments 1: sevenths, inversions and applied dominants
Linear intervallic patterns
& AS Unit 17: 1 (285286); Unit 18: 17 (301309);
Unit 25: 13, 56 (449455); Unit 26: 16 (483486)
Third part of written portfolio due

Tuesday 29 October

Lecture 16: Sequence 2

Substitutions and embellishments 2: suspensions
Other root motions
& AS Unit 17: 23 (286289); Unit 18: 822 (310326);
Unit 22: 1622 (401408); Unit 25: 4 (452); Unit 26: 1720 (486491)

Thursday 31 October

Lecture 17: The sentence

The sentence 2: sequential fragmentation

Tuesday 5 November

Lecture 18: The period 1

Form as completion and repetition
The parallel interrupted period
Large-scale interrupted structures
Fourth part of written portfolio due

Thursday 7 November

Lecture 19: The period 2

The contrasting period
Sectional, continuous and progressive periods

Tuesday 12 November

Lecture 20: Stylistic composition workshop 2

Writing a theme
Hybrid constructions
Small binary and ternary constructions

Thursday 14 November

Lecture 21: Tripartite forms

Large ternary forms
Minuet and trio forms
Fifth part of written portfolio due

Tuesday 19 November

Lecture 22: Additive forms

Theme and variations
Rondo

Thursday 21 November

Lecture 23: Revision session

Tuesday 26 November

Lecture 24: Written exam 2

Thursday 21 November

Thanksgiving break

Tuesday 3 December

Lecture 25: Sonata form 1

Points of tonal articulation
Thematic schema

Thursday 5 December

Lecture 26: Sonata form 2

Technicalities of thematic presentations
Workings of the transition
Workings of the development

Final exams and submissions

Monday 9 December

Group dictation test

Tuesday 10 December

Individual aural and keyboard tests

Friday 13 December

Final project due at 9am